Today we’d like to introduce you to Dracula from DracMina Veil Perez
Hi Dracula from DracMina, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I perform under the names Lord Veil or Dracula depending upon the project. I was born in California. My parents nicknamed me Dracula from kindergarten age because I couldn’t sleep all night and would stay up watching horror movies.
The DracMina project was inspired by my dear friend Emma Graham. She’s quite a bit of a muse and a wonderful musical partner. The original story idea for what would become the band formed when I was very young. I had so many problems with how Dracula was killed in the 1930’s Bela Lugosi film, then later the Bram Stoker book. He could turn into mist but could be staked? Nah…
When I read the book I realized that these were journal entries, things told from these specific character’s points of view. What if Dracula’s demise was staged? He’d need an accomplice. Who better than his storied nemesis Professor Van Helsing?
My Van Helsing is portrayed by my dear friend Ben Bernard.
Dracula has a Renfield, Right?
Enter Birch Robinson-Hudduch.
Doesn’t Dracula have brides?
We have our Mina (mentioned above portrayed by Miss Graham) and the vicious Princess Aleera portrayed by social media influencer Ashley Lugosi.
In the movie Van Helsing, Dracula and Dr Frankenstein are allies of sorts for a short while. Our Dr Frankenstein is portrayed by Jerry Clements.
I wrote the beginning this living fan fic when I was 9 or 11 years old and continued to add to it through the years combining the original lore with more modern takes on the subject.
I had no idea what I was going to do with it until I met Emma.
Prior to meeting my Mina I did music on my own as Lord Veil.
What I always loved to bring to the stage is a sense of wonder and a splash of the theatrical. I also love doing performance art whenever possible. With DracMina I have the opportunity to give audiences something they don’t get to see everyday, a party goth vampire rock experience!
DracMina isn’t just filled with hard partying rockers. We also give back to the scene that nurtured us.
When I was a kid in Cali there were all ages goth clubs. I snuck out and went to them as often as possible. It was a safe and accepting environment in which I could discover myself.
We want to give that to the kids in Dayton who believe they don’t really fit in. At OUR all ages goth night everyone fits in. Everyone is welcome. All are accepted.
There are specialty mocktails for our underage friends, and cocktails for our legal aged drinkers, all invented by me.
We present our goth night known as Lilith’s Lair on the first Thursday of every month at The Hidden Gem in Dayton right behind Submarine House on Miamisburg/Centerville Rd.
Our dear friend DJ Curtastrophe hosts the event alongside club owner Tony Schmidt and provides the music for everyone to dance to. DracMina’s own Ben Bernard and his wife Aimee Slocumb provide the decorations for our goth night.
DracMina’s mission is to SHOW EVERYONE that it’s possible to channel all darkness and negativity into something creative and beautiful. We example this by giving EVERYTHING we have in every performance.
Myself and most of the band are on the autism spectrum. I have 4 daughters, the3 young ones have autism. I’m showing my girls daily how to do this in their lives, to turn negatives into positives. They love DracMina so much they’re honorary members. I love to bring them on stage at some of the all ages performances to help out with their two favorite songs. I’m my best me in order to show my daughters that they’re perfectly allowed to be their best them.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Struggles are normal with every project where you’re trying to produce a vision that nobody can see but you. For a while DracMina was just myself and Emma recording music on my computer. We went through lineup changes for 6-8 months before we began performing.
DracMina became a performing act on June 20th 2023. It was myself, Emma and Ben performing with two other players who proved to be very temporary. After that it was just the three of us. I recruited a dear friend Ashley Lugosi to be one of the brides alongside Emma. She’s a natural performer with natural grace and infectious energy. She plays tambourine, sings backups and dances around the stage like a gothic fairy princess.
We performed every single open mic we could wishing we had a drummer.
Then Birch, a conga and djembe player found us at Blind Bob’s. On the day we were auditioning him at Dayton Sound Studios there was another who was vying for a spot with us. I had a strong feeling about Birch. He matched our energy and was just our kind of word. He arrived and I told him he was in before he unpacked his hand drums.
We gained and lost other players. It’s always heartbreaking. But, Jerry Clements took a chance on us.
We’ve had other cherished members come and go as we try to add more theatrics to our shows but our final lineup of as follows:
Dracula: lead vocals, songwriter, Director and multi instrumentalist
Mina: Co lead singer, backup singer, bass, guitar, dancer
Professor Van Helsing: everything with strings and backup singer
Princess Aleera: Backing vocals, tambourine, and dancer
Renfield: Congas, djembe, keyboards ukulele
Dr Frankenstein: Drum Kit, guitar
Our biggest struggle as we enter our second year as a performing act is finding gigs that aren’t Halloween centered. We’ve gone from open mic players to headliners in a short time.
But that’s due to some really hard work. We rehearse rehearse rehearse to make each show different from the last. Our second biggest problem is arranging all ages shows. We’ve found a really amazing audience with the young people and want to perform for them as well as our 21+ crowd.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
DracMina is my life. I work hard to make us the best show you’ll see in a local act or otherwise. On the side I own a headstone cleaning business called AfterCare.
What does success mean to you?
I define success as doing the thing I love to make the means to support my family. I’m a long way from that right now, but we’ll get there. Even though there are currently frustrating times for us, DracMina never quits.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/dracminamusic
